by Angela Lain
“Realize what? I know Abe talked of not wanting to marry, but obviously he has changed his mind.”
“No, he hasn’t, not really. Abe is a good man, a decent man, he is only doing it because the alternative for me is something I would hate.”
“Explain, please.”
“Adam has already committed, and you seem not to be available, which leaves Joe, Abe or David. Your father would not allow Joe to marry yet. If it’s not Abe, it’s David.” She gave a shudder. “I would sooner die than marry David.”
Ben stared at her. “I know David can be a bit…well…”
“He is cruel. He needlessly hurts things, why would I be any luckier than a dog, or a cow, or a lizard? He enjoys inflicting pain.”
“He… I…” Ben could think of no reply for this, because he knew, as she said it, she was most likely right.
“Abe knows. That is why he came and told me yesterday that he would marry me, to save me from David. David had been talking about how he would like to be my husband, he thinks we would be given this property, he wants me to be, as Abe put it, ‘his little wife’. Abe took that in exactly the way I understand it too. His slave. But marrying Abe is not ever going to be… right.”
“Why not? Maybe he will come to love you, and you to love him!” It hurt Ben to say it, but it might be true.
“No. You have heard Abe’s reasons for not marrying?”
“He says he would not want to put a woman through what my mother suffered. She did have a hard life with so many children, but…”
“But nothing. That is his excuse, I am not sure it is the reason.”
“So what is the reason?” Ben demanded.
“I think, possibly, that Abe… Abe does not… like women. I don’t mean he dislikes them, I mean… he doesn’t like them the way a man should,” Charis murmured softly.
“He… he…what? You mean… he prefers… men?”
“I don’t know, but I do wonder. He told me he would look after me and defend me, but he would never touch me and there would be no children. So you see it cannot be a marriage that I will look forward to and enjoy. I wanted a family.”
Ben stared at her, totally astounded by what she had revealed.
“That can’t be true.”
“Maybe it is not, I don’t know. But that is how he told me the marriage would be. I can’t help but wonder.” She got up from the porch. “I must get back, they will soon be back for supper.”
She moved to untie Blaze, and the pony nuzzled into her neck. Ben looked on, wishing he could do the same thing. He directed his gaze away to the horizon, he shouldn’t be thinking things like that, she was marrying Abe.
Charis moved the pony close to the porch and hopped aboard. It was then he realized she had no saddle.
“Where is your saddle?”
“Presumably appropriated with my horse. It seems that all my worldly goods have become the property of the Fergusons, even before I have married into the family.”
Her tone was bitter, and he could hardly blame her.
“Charis, this is not right. When we get back I will sort this out, it’s your pony and your saddle and…”
“Where is the point, Ben? When I marry Abe, everything will be his, this is just a little early.”
They rode back to the ranch in a rather strained silence.
***
Ben sat down at the table, it was several days since he had been here, what with the problems they had been having with cattle thefts in the area. Maybelle was seated at the table with Josh, and she was still wearing her britches.
“You have been out with the cattle, Maybelle?” He knew she had, he’d been here when she had ridden back in, but he couldn’t resist stirring the situation.
“Oh yes. I don’t need to be in here, Charis loves to cook. Anyhow, she couldn’t exactly ride the range, could she?”
Charis turned to look at her. “I may not be able to ride as well as you, but when I was younger I rode the range along with the rest of this family, I will have you know.”
She turned back to the stove.
Ben looked at Charis. Her hair was still pulled back into a braid, and she had red tendrils curling around her face from the steam which arose from her cooking stove. And it was her cooking stove, because it appeared Maybelle had surrendered the kitchen to her.
The food was placed on the table, and for the first time that Ben had experienced in a while, everyone waited for a few moments while Pa murmured a short grace. Then everyone dug in with enthusiasm. Ben helped himself to a portion and began to eat. The meal wasn’t just edible, it was very good; he could savor the food at this table for the first time in months.
He looked around at his family, they were all wolfing the food without a word of thanks, without acknowledging how much better it was than Maybelle had ever managed. Not that he wanted Maybelle criticized, but Charis surely deserved some praise?
The first course completed, Charis cleared the plates to the sink, and put an apple pie and a jug of cream onto the table. There was all but a free-for-all to get a portion of the pie. Ben took a slice, and glanced over at Charis. She was still sorting plates into the sink, the melt-in-the-mouth pie had almost vanished and she’d had none. There would be none left for her, and that wasn’t right. He made a grab for the plate just as Joe reached for it again.
“Hey,” Joe protested, “I wanted that.”
“So you might, but Charis hasn’t had any.”
He slid a portion onto her plate, leaving Joe one last sliver, then he topped it with cream, and rose from the table to carry the plate to the sink.
“Come, sit down and eat yours.”
Charis looked up in surprise, he read the disbelief in her face and felt guilty.
“Come, Charis. You have made us all a lovely meal. You need to eat.”
She wiped her hands on the dish towel and sat back at the table to eat the pie.
As everyone finished their meal they settled back with coffee, which Maybelle had collected from the stove.
Ben stood up. “Thank you, Charis, for the meal. It was good. Now I think, for a change, we should clear up.” He reached for the rest of the plates.
There were several moans of protest, of which David’s were of course the loudest. Joe, however, stood immediately and moved to the sink. Abe was the next to follow.
Charis sat opened mouthed at the table. “Really, it is not necessary…”
“Or maybe it is,” Zac growled gruffly. “That was good food, you deserve praise.”
Ben was inwardly seething at the way they were all misusing her, taking her for granted. He had not been here much of the time, but he had no doubt nothing had been any different while he was away. Until this point he had not realized that she was doing all the cooking, that Maybelle had stopped helping, that they had all stopped helping. He had dealt with that part at least.
Since she had arrived here his vision of her had changed. From the very first he’d felt sorry for her. He had wanted a girl who sparkled, like Maybelle, and Charis didn’t sparkle. Now he saw it differently; she glowed, from that beautiful loving heart within, that lovely red mane framed a truly pretty face.
And from what she had said earlier today, she had accepted Abe.
He had to talk with her.
Unfortunately the opportunity did not arise, instead Zac wanted all the latest information on their investigation into the disappearing cattle from the properties on the far side of town.
Charis sat and listened for a while, before excusing herself and going to her room.
Ben wanted to scream in frustration. It had taken him all this time to see her properly, and now he couldn’t tell her. He’d been so busy trying to please his father, that he’d been spineless about this. She was the woman he wanted, and he was going to do his utmost to win her.
***
Charis sat on her bed, wondering about the way Ben had behaved towards her. He had always been pleasant, they all had, with the exception of
David. Truth be told, David had not behaved that badly, but she knew him of old, and she would never be able to trust him, or warm to him.
Was Ben interested? Would he stand up and be counted or would he just allow his father to dictate his life? Certainly he had broken free in a way the others had not, but he still bowed to his father in many instances.
How was she ever likely to find out, when Ben was rarely here? When he was here, she couldn’t find much excuse to get him alone to talk with him, Zac Ferguson made certain of that.
As to the rest of the family stepping up to help, that had been unexpected. She could see why Maybelle had found it so hard, the girl had few domestic skills, and given the opportunity she wriggled out of them anyhow. But to be landed with everything when you had anticipated just a husband, was a bit overwhelming.
CHAPTER TEN
B en was getting increasingly frustrated with his job. It wasn’t that he disliked the work, but at this time he had other things occupying his mind. He wanted more freedom to visit the ranch, instead he had even less than normal. Sheriff Hempson was heavily involved in investigating the cattle thefts from surrounding farms and small ranches.
Thus far all the theft had been to the north of the town, since the Ferguson ranch lay to the south, they had not suffered any losses, yet. Ben thought it was only a matter of time. He didn’t like to think what it would do to Zac Ferguson’s temper if he lost cattle. He would be apoplectic!
There were times when he felt guilty about leaving the family business, but the truth was, as a going concern it could only support so many people. At this time only Josh had married, but what of the others? Abe aside, there would be wives, and children, and all would put a burden on the ranch finances. He wished his father would see that some of them had to leave, to make a life outside of his small empire.
At this time, the only place Ben wanted to be was on the ranch. To be precise, he wanted to be where he could talk with Charis. He wasn’t sure how this had occurred, he had certainly not been looking for it to happen, but… he was in love. The idea of that bright, beautiful girl tied to one of his brothers was just killing him!
It would likely be Abe; he was a good man, a fair man, even kind in his way, but he was too dour, too joyless, for his beautiful Charis.
There he was again, thinking of her as his. He wanted it so badly, but he had no idea how he could achieve his goal, Charis as his wife.
Would she defy his father? Or, the more pertinent question, would he defy his father? At this point in time, he thought he would. They could run away together if Zac Ferguson really kicked off about it. Ben had little doubt that, if he made his feelings clear, Abe would back him rather than fight him.
Decision made, he wanted to see Charis and tell her what they should do; they needed to make plans.
This morning he patrolled the town ceaselessly, sitting in the office made him brood over the future. Unfortunately some of the townsfolk did not help his musings.
“Hey, Ben, what’s this I hear about Abe getting hitched to the Lovell girl?”
“Nothing has been decided,” he growled at Jim Roper, the blacksmith.
“I must admit, I never thought Abe had it in him. I thought he… well, less said the better.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… you know.”
Ben stared in disbelief, remembering what Charis had said. Maybe everyone had known, had seen what he had never even considered!
“Anyhow, if Abe has decided he wants her, he’d better get on and do it, before David beats him to the punch.”
“Pardon?” Ben wasn’t certain he’d heard that properly, either.
“Yeah, David was talking about her yesterday, in the saloon at lunch time. Says he’ll have her and the Lovell place.” Roper gave a shrug. “David always talks big when your Pa ain’t around to hear him.”
Ben round his teeth in fury as Roper continued.
“Ahh, little Charis, I remember her from school. She’s quite a looker now, ain’t she?”
What could he do but agree?
“So will the decision be made by the Christmas social, you know, the celebration after the Christmas Eve service?”
“Maybe.” Ben could be no more specific. If he had his way, he would be the one escorting her to the Christmas social.
He continued his rounds, his mind in a whirl and his temper even shorter than it had been first thing.
Sheriff Hempson rode back into town at lunch time and Ben pleaded the need to return to the ranch.
“Hmmp, I suppose you’ve earned a few hours. You will be back first thing tomorrow?”
Ben promised. At least if he went home now he could speak with Charis before his brothers returned home.
***
Charis had finished the cleaning, the supper preparation and left the loaves to rise, she had a spare hour or two in which she could find a bit of freedom. She headed for the barn to saddle Blaze.
The saddle Ben had found for her was old, but it served its purpose, she was fastening the cinch when David rode into the barn.
She was instantly on the defensive, but she tried to cover her reaction. This man was so unlike his brothers, he had turned into a resentful bully. Poor Joe was his usual victim, she didn’t want to be one, too. He’d been making suggestive asides every time he got within speaking distance. He made certain his father never heard, but he didn’t care much about anyone else.
“Oh, hello. Have you come back to change horses? Or…something…?”
He glared at her. “None of your mind. I’m going to town.”
He jumped down and pulled a set of saddle bags from behind a heap of blankets on the straw, heaved them across his horse, and was out of the barn in minutes.
Charis didn’t know why, but his actions struck her as suspicious. Maybe it was because she didn’t like him, but she was sure he was up to no good. It also struck her as strange that he’d made absolutely no effort to press his advantage when he’d found her alone.
She led Blaze from the barn, and decided she was going to ride out to where they were working the cattle. She’d only done it once before, and watching Maybelle had made her feel inadequate. Today she was being nosy, she wanted to find out why David had gone to town.
She headed in the direction she had seen them ride this morning, towards town. Now she wondered again; why, if David was going to town, he had come back to the ranch first? What had he been hiding in those saddle bags?
***
Ben pushed on swiftly towards the ranch, it was early afternoon and he should get plenty of time to talk with Charis. As he passed between the rocky outcrops he caught sight of a horse and rider heading towards him. A small sorrel pony with a white face.
Blaze.
He couldn’t believe his luck, Charis, alone and able to talk privately with him.
They pulled up to speak, and it struck Ben that she looked flushed and anxious.
“Charis, where are you going? Is something wrong?”
“I was looking for your father, and… I do think something might be wrong.” She paused. “Ben, maybe it is you I need to talk to!”
“I surely need to talk with you.”
“You do?”
“Of course, this is ridiculous and it’s gone on for long enough. We have to sort this whole mess out, once and for all. Charis, will you marry me?”
“I… What?” It was obviously not what she’d been expecting him to say.
“Yes. I can’t let you marry Abe, or God forbid, David. I want to marry you.”
“Oh, Ben. That is… unexpected… I think.”
“Will you?”
“Well, I… I think maybe I would like that, but first I think we need to deal with this. Because I really do believe there is something wrong.”
“Wrong? Other than the fact you have already agreed to marry the wrong brother?”
“Yes! That is by the by, I never really said yes, I just didn’t say no. It was the best I had been offere
d at the time. We need to find your father.”
“Why?”
“Because David is up to something. I’m really glad I met you, because you are the law, and if you tell your father he will take more notice.”
“So what do you think David is doing?”
Charis launched into a description of David’s recent actions and behavior in the barn.
“What made me most suspicious was the way he behaved towards me,” she concluded. “I know your father doesn’t think much of me, and he would believe I was exaggerating my importance if I thought it odd that David did not try to make a move on me.”
Ben regarded her solemnly. “I think David would only have ignored that possibility if he had something else very important he wanted to do! I think you are right, he is up to no good.”
“So we find your father?”
“We do. Have you any idea…?”
“Yes, they headed this way this morning, something about Slip Rock and bringing cattle closer to home?”
“That is this way,” Ben turned his pony and they set off at a lope. Almost an hour later they breasted the low ridge and saw a herd of cattle and riders in the distance. He pushed on towards them, Charis held back.
“Come on.”
“Maybe I should go back? Your father won’t want to see me out here. He thinks I am only good for housework. Last time he saw me out near the cattle he yelled at me to ‘go on home’.”
Ben felt a flash of fury at her words. Now was not the time to confront this, but it would stop. Charis would be his wife, and he would take her away from this lack of appreciation for good.
“As long as you feel safe to ride back alone, you go. I guess I will be riding on to town.”
“I will be fine, Blaze will take care of me.”
“I will see you later.” He raised his palm to his lips and blew her a kiss. She blushed and gave him a warm smile.
“I guess I do want to marry you.”
“Good. We will talk later.”
